Strategies for targeted gene delivery using lipid nanoparticles and cell-derived nanovesicles.

Gene therapy is a promising approach for the treatment of many diseases. However, the effective delivery of the cargo without degradation in vivo is one of the major hurdles. With the advent of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and cell-derived nanovesicles (CDNs), gene delivery holds a very promising future. The targeting of these nanosystems is a prerequisite for effective transfection with minimal side-effects. In this review, we highlight the emerging strategies utilized for the effective targeting of LNPs and CDNs, and we summarize the preparation methodologies for LNPs and CDNs. We have also highlighted the non-ligand targeting of LNPs toward certain organs based on their composition. It is highly expected that continuing the developments in the targeting approaches of LNPs and CDNs for the delivery system will further promote them in clinical translation.

Automated Mesiodens Classification System Using Deep Learning on Panoramic Radiographs of Children.

In this study, we aimed to develop and evaluate the performance of deep-learning models that automatically classify mesiodens in primary or mixed dentition panoramic radiographs. Panoramic radiographs of 550 patients with mesiodens and 550 patients without mesiodens were used. Primary or mixed dentition patients were included. SqueezeNet, ResNet-18, ResNet-101, and Inception-ResNet-V2 were each used to create deep-learning models. The accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score of ResNet-101 and Inception-ResNet-V2 were higher than 90%. SqueezeNet exhibited relatively inferior results. In addition, we attempted to visualize the models using a class activation map. In images with mesiodens, the deep-learning models focused on the actual locations of the mesiodens in many cases. Deep-learning technologies may help clinicians with insufficient clinical experience in more accurate and faster diagnosis.

Biomaterials for Stem Cell Therapy for Cardiac Disease.

Myocardial Infarction (MI) in cardiac disease is the result of heart muscle losses due to a wide range of factors. Cardiac muscle failure is a crucial condition that provokes life-threatening outcomes. Heretofore, regeneration therapies in MI have used stem-cell-based therapy instantly after a myocardial injury to prevent the disease process and tissue malfunction. Despite the therapeutic utility of stem-cell-based regenerative therapy, barriers to successful treatment have been addressed. In this chapter, we illustrate a variety of emerging biomaterial strategies for enhancing the function of therapeutic stem cells, such as cell surface modification to synthetically endowing stem cells with new characteristics and hydrogels with its biological and mechanical properties. These investments offer a potential accompaniment to traditional stem-cell-based therapies for enhancing the efficacy of stem cell therapy to design properly activating cardiac tissues.